12 posts categorized "Everwood"

October 17, 2006

Witness the new look of Chris Pratt, formerly Bright Abbott on "Everwood." He sported a standard jock look on that show, but for his new gig on "The O.C.," he’s got more of a scruffy tree-hugger ensemble going on, complete with fuzzy beard and beret.

In Season 4 of "The O.C.," which begins [date corrected here] Nov. 2, Pratt plays Che, an environmental activist at Brown University; that’s where he gets to know Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson).

Seth Cohen (Adam Brody), on the other hand, is working at a local comic book store and hanging out with Summer’s dad for kicks. How exciting does that sound? Surely it will provide the opportunity for much pop-cultural quippage.

Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) is apparently using the fists of fury to deal with his grief over the death of Marissa, as evidenced by this image of Ryan about to pummel someone. Even though "The O.C." ran out of juice well before the middle of Season 3, it’s still good to see the old reliable fists of fury.

"The O.C." has a new crop of kiddies now that Marissa’s gone; Kaitlin Cooper, Marissa’s little sis, is still around and Taylor Townsend (Autumn Reeser) will have a bigger role this year as well. Apparently R&B singer Chris Brown is involved somehow in Season 4; the press kit lists him as "Will Tutt," who, according to Zap2it.com, gets involved with Kaitlin.

There are also twin brothers at Harbor School, Eric and Brad, both of whom have a crush on Kaitlin. Personally, I’m of the opinion that any time a show adds twins, trouble looms; the generally pallid, repetitive tone of Season 3 is also not filling me with eager anticipation for the return of this show.

Still, I have not watched the four episodes of Season 4 that Fox sent. If and when I do, I will update you with further thoughts on "The O.C." At any rate, the show has a bit more Brightness than it did last year, which can't be a bad thing.

June 07, 2006

Here’s why I’ll miss “Everwood.” Not just because the show, which ended
Monday, proved that sentiment could be blended with a sense of humor.
Not just because it demonstrated on a weekly basis that compassion and
sincerity don’t have to be treacly and condescending. Not just because
the cast was so frakkin’ good.

Not just because Treat Williams made me
cry with that final speech at his dead wife’s grave. Not just because
it ended with Amy and Ephram together, with Andy and Nina together,
with Bright and Hannah almost together, and with Edna moving in with
Harold and Rose (OK, that last one requires a big leap of faith, but
“Everwood’s” more than earned that in the last four years).

This excerpt is from the show’s May 29 episode, the one that paid
tribute to the late Irv Harper. It’s a flashback scene in which Amy and
Ephram are discussing their new dating partners, and they talk about
losing their virginity (both, it emerges, have not, at this stage of
the show). Ephram asks Amy if she’s done the deed with her new
boyfriend, Tommy, which starts Amy musing on the whole virginity topic.

Amy: “It kind of makes me wonder who my first time will be with.”

Ephram: “I guess that answers that question.”

Amy: “Who, Tommy? No, although it would make things easier.”

Ephram: “Why, you think he’s experienced or something?”

Amy: “I’m sure he’s done it before. That’s not the point. It would just take some of the pressure off if it was him.”

Ephram: “Like, what do you mean?”

Amy: “I already know he’s not The One, so losing it to him would just be like getting it out of the way.”

Ephram: “Every girl’s dream.”

Amy: “Are you a girl?”

Ephram: “Compared to you? Possibly. I’m not saying it has to be all
candles and Coldplay or whatever, but I definitely want my first time
to be special.”

Candles and Coldplay? Who writes like that? Nobody. That’s the point.

OK, there are other great shows out there with compelling characters
and great dialogue. But not this show. With these people. Who managed to be sincere and smartalecky at the same time. Who made me cry when Delia got a horse, for goodness’ sake.

Some have carped that “Everwood” wrapped things up too neatly. Pshaw. I
think it was perfect. I want to think about all those couples together.
I want to think of Rose and Harold raising that baby. I want to think
about Delia riding her horse and Edna razzing her prickly son.

I want to remember that kind of dialogue and remember how smart and
brave the show was when “7th Heaven” returns next year. No,
actually, I don’t want to think about that come next fall. Because that
would cause what’s left of my brain to ignite and explode.

June 02, 2006

Rumors have circulated among "Everwood" fans that the show might come back on the CW, for at least part of the season.

I asked "Everwood" creator Greg Berlanti whether those rumors were true, and here's his reply (via e-mail): "I have heard nothing about the show coming back and we've broken down the sets and said goodbye. It's done."

Executive producer Rina Mimoun gave the same reply to TV Guide's Michael Ausiello. On his blog, he reports that she said the "Everwood" rumors are "not true."

So it looks like Monday really is the series finale of the show. To all of you who wrote in to tell me (quite eloquently) how upset you are about the show ending, I share your pain. TV is losing its only intelligent family drama, and one of the best shows on the tube. Monday will be a sad day indeed.

May 28, 2006

But over four seasons, the writers for this WB drama, which has been canceled by the new CW network and only airs two more Mondays, have managed the trickiest feat in television: They've created characters who are consistent and compelling, yet capable of real change.

Too often on television, the "changes" that characters go through aren't really changes. The characters aren't really evolving -- the writers just alter a show's inhabitants to suit the plot of the week.

Even some often-excellent shows have been incredibly inconsistent in this regard. One week, Lorelai Gilmore of "Gilmore Girls" is sane and wise, the next week, she's spouting the most pathetic, selfish drivel. One week Nate Fisher of "Six Feet Under" is a caring, empathic guy, the next week he's a thoughtless jerk. Don't even start me on "Nip/Tuck"; those poor actors were given such wildly different parts to play each week of Season 3 that it's a wonder the leads didn't suffer from whiplash.

Contrast those people with characters such as Commander Adama on "Battlestar Galactica," Al Swearengen on "Deadwood," Chloe O'Brian on "24" or Pam Beesley on "The Office." If you watch those shows consistently, you come to feel you know who those people are, down to the root of their souls. They're fictional but absolutely real, because the people who create and act these roles are meticulous in their attention to detail and disciplined about every gesture, every nuance, every step the character takes.

May 18, 2006

In a brief e-mail, "Everwood" creator Greg Berlanti had this to say about the end of "Everwood" (and by the way, I'd asked him if he'd shop the show elsewhere, but that doesn't sound like it's going to happen. What follows is the entirety of Berlanti's e-mail):

"We're all profoundly sad... but at the same time amazingly grateful we got to be a part of something so special. I would personally like to thank all of the amazing fans and critics that have supported the show (yes, I'm talking about you, Television Without Pity) and connected with it the same way we did. You guys were the reason we were on so long to begin with. Andy Brown, Ephram, Delia, the Abbotts, Nina, Edna, Irv and all the other folks of Everwood that we got to watch grow and change, suffer and soar -- they're not characters, they're us. And they will live on in our hearts and in syndication forever. I can only hope in my lifetime I get to be a part of something again that touches people in the same way. Until then... enjoy the last few episodes. And thank you guys so much for spending four years in Everwood."

Executive producer Rina Mimoun had this to say:

"It's been a very sad week for all of us Everwoodians. While we all knew this was possible, it still felt surprising when it actually happened. I guess crossing all your fingers and toes for 30 days straight doesn't do that much after all. :)

"But all I can say is we had a lovely run, and it was the best four years I've ever spent in television. Hopefully the fans will enjoy our finale and keep us in their hearts."

April 27, 2006

One finale you won’t see in May is that of “Everwood,” which will
end its season June 5. According to creator Greg Berlanti, that delay
is because of the backlog that was created when the WB stopped airing the show
for four months.

“They were going to play two 2-hours [blocks] back to
back to squeeze them in -- but the first set of two hours were not
designed to go together and did not fit well, so I asked them to
separate [those episodes],” Berlanti said by e-mail.

“The 2-hour finale
in June will be great, though, and I wish we’d gotten on the air sooner
or not been off for as long ... but there was nothing I could do about
that.”

April 16, 2006

Fans of "Everwood" are facing the very real prospect that the wonderful WB drama might be coming to an end.

For four seasons, a loyal audience has followed the fate of widower Andy Brown, his son Ephram and daughter Delia, as they've tried to rebuild their lives in a small Colorado town. Whether their story will continue on the new CW network next year, in the wake of the WB-UPN merger, is unknown.

Creator Greg Berlanti, in town for a recent event at his alma mater, Northwestern University, said he thinks, in a way, the merger might help his show. After all, the WB has moved his show twice this year, and CW execs might look at "Everwood" with fresh eyes.

“I actually think our chances are the same if not improved” by the merger, Berlanti said. “I would blame a lot of people at the WB who haven’t, I think, gotten behind the show when they needed to. With the exception of our first year when we got terrific promotion and a terrific launch, it’s never gotten the kind of push” that it should have by the WB.

As far as what will happen in coming weeks on “Everwood,” Berlanti said, “We have a series of relationships that are going to come to a head. There’s a Jake-Nina-Andy triangle, that will come to a head yet again. … What we have in store for [Hannah and Bright’s] relationship will be of interest. … And there is the death of a major character on the show.”

Of the death, Berlanti said, “while sad, it’s not tragic.”And if the show does end this year, “it brings us out sort of the way [death] brought us in,” Berlanti says. “We say a lot at the show that tragedy makes us real. It’s not the happy times that define us, but how we get through our struggles, and the people we lean on and rely on during those times. That defines what kind of people we are.”

Will Andy Brown finally get together with his next-door neighbor, Nina? Berlanti was cagey about that, but he did say this:

“This show has been the journey of a widower,” Berlanti said. “I think the fans that have been rooting for him to learn how to love again - I’m not going to let the show go down without figuring out a way to please them.”

Berlanti, who’s working on some new (and top-secret) shows for Touchstone Television, also talked a bit about what the legacy of “Everwood” would be, if the show does go off the air.

He mused that the show may have proved that “sentiment isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That sentiment and quality go well together, without it being just us trying to tug at the heartstrings for the sake of it.”

March 27, 2006

If you’re into watching shows about crime, punishment, the law, medicine, politics or even the military, you’re pretty much covered these days. There’s plenty on the network schedules to pick from in all those arenas (with an ever-growing bumper crop of crime-’n’-corpses fare).

But what about programs such as “Everwood”? It’s the kind of realistic drama that used to be common on TV, and it is, if nothing else, a welcome change of pace from shows about lawyers, doctors and cops. So it would be nice to think the show has a safe place on the broadcast television schedule, but the sad truth is, the future of “Everwood,” which finally returns from a long break at 7 p.m. Monday on WGN-Ch. 9, is very much in doubt.

The show about life in a small Colorado town has been a steady performer, not to mention a critical success, for the WB for the past four seasons, but as the WB merges with UPN to create the new CW network, no one knows if “Everwood” will make it onto the CW schedule next fall.

It should. It’s a gem.

Nothing much happens in Monday’s two “Everwood” episodes. Or rather, life happens. And, as in the real world, sometimes profundity arises from the details. For example, in the first of Monday’s episodes, Irv Beasley, Dr. Andy Brown’s friend, publishes a novel in which a Brown-like character figures prominently.

Brown, played subtly and skillfully by Treat Williams, at first is angry about his depiction in the book, until he realizes that Beasley’s assessment of him is right. Brown still hasn’t gotten over his wife’s death, the event that drove him and his family to Everwood in the first place.

On Monday’s typically well-paced episodes, other breakups, makeups and realizations occur among the adults and the show’s younger characters, who are now moving into their post-high school years and making all the mistakes that college students inevitably make. Friends drift apart, yearn for change and find they have real differences: “Everwood” is one of the few shows on television where a discussion of abortion -- pro and con -- doesn’t come off as an exploitative stunt or a pre-programmed debate but as an honest disagreement between well-intentioned friends.

“Love Monkey,” a slightly quirky, real-world drama that aired only a few times on CBS, appears to be toast. The WB’s squeaky-clean family show “Seventh Heaven” is most likely ending, and the network appears to be skittish about its new drama, “The Bedford Diaries,” before that program even begins.

Not that any of those other non-cop dramas are really substitutes for “Everwood,” where the characters and stories never venture too far from the realities of day-to-day life. But the richness and realness of these characters, from the newly confident Hannah to the endearingly goofy Bright to the noble, conflicted Nina, give the show’s able writers much to work with. Real life, in their hands, is a strange, tragic and wonderful thing.

Memo to CW executives: I’ll take “Everwood’s” intelligent sincerity and emotional honesty over another “CSI” clone any day of the week.

January 26, 2006

Fans of quality WB fare had two questions Tuesday, when it was announced that the WB and UPN will fold next September and form a new network called The CW: Whither "Everwood"? What about "Gilmore Girls"?

Would the new network, which is supposed to cherry-pick the best shows from both networks, pick up both of these much-loved shows?

In the case of "Gilmore Girls," not to worry (well, worry a little. More on that in a bit).

"Definitely the show is coming back" next year, creator Amy Sherman-Palladino said Wednesday. "The show is doing well, we have an awesome cast and there’s some compatibility with other shows they’ll probably have, like [UPN’s] `Veronica Mars.’ … It could be kind of exciting."

The hitch: Sherman-Palladino and her husband, "Gilmore Girls" executive producer Daniel Palladino, aren’t sure they’ll be back at the helm of the show next year.

"We don’t have a contract for next year. … And we haven’t had a break in six years. We’re tired," Palladino said. If they don’t reach an agreement to continue working on the show in its seventh year, the WB has the option of continuing "Gilmore Girls" without them, the couple noted.

One other bit of fallout from the merger: A new show the couple was developing for the WB is no longer going to happen. "Everyone was really gung-ho, then not so much," Sherman-Palladino said. "The WB was acting in a way that felt very weird to us. Now we believe that the reason things were so weird is because behind the scenes," merger talks were taking place.

As for "Everwood," the future is less certain.

"At this point, we haven’t been given any indication one way or another about the fate of our show," "Everwood" executive producer Rina Mimoun said Wednesday via e-mail. But she and show creator Greg Berlanti hope that new CW chief Dawn Ostroff (the former head of UPN) will "fall in love with our little mountain town," Mimoun said.

"We still have many more stories to tell, not to mention a giant wedding ahead," she added. "We will continue to do our best to maintain the quality that has kept `Everwood’ one of TV’s best kept secrets. And maybe on this new network, we won’t be a secret anymore!"

A bit more from Amy Sherman-Palladino on Tuesday's episode of "Gilmore Girls" is below.

September 30, 2005

This fall, the annual shuffling of the TV schedule put fear in the heart of hard-core "Everwood" fans. The WB moved the acclaimed family drama, which just began its fourth season, to Thursdays, where it's up against "CSI" and "The Apprentice" as well as highly touted newbies such as "Reunion" and "Night Stalker."

"We didn't expect [the move] at all, because everyone was so happy with our Monday nighttime slot. It kind of threw us a bit;, we were all a little nervous," said "Everwood's" Emily VanCamp (Amy Abbott), who was in Chicago on Thursday promoting the show. Still, she noted that "we have a pretty strong core audience who have been pretty faithful to the show."

Her co-star, Chris Pratt, who plays her TV brother, Bright Abbott, saw a bit of a silver lining in the move. "Thursday night, that's the night for all the big advertisers, for all the [commercials for] movies for the weekends. That's the spot where the networks bring out the big guns," Pratt said. "So to be considered the big gun could be looked at as a compliment."

More from Emily VanCamp and Chris Pratt:

Do you think the show is changing at all this year?

Chris: "When you have the first season of Everwood, the pilot was just awesome, just perfect. There was this 30 episode arc in his head that was his vision. If you see the first couple season on DVD, you can really see how awesome that was. The show totally had its stride, and it's like passing the baton to someone and keep that stride, it's difficult. Because a lot of the stories that kept the show so compelling, you have to stop telling after a while. Ephram and Amy only works as long as it takes to get them together, then its like, 'Now what?' it's like [trying to create] part two of 'Romeo and Juliet.' The [strength] of the show [has been] that it's something that's it's a little atypical of the WB, which is why we have fans outside the typical demographic recognize us. I don't know, I think we're becoming a little more close to what their core audience is used to, and that's definitely a change from what it was in the beginning.

Emily: "There's less John Beasley, for instance, who I think is one of the most amazing characters on the show. I love watching him, I love working with him. And Debra Mooney."

Chris: "The voiceover."

Emily: "The voiceover. We're certainly lacking things that I loved as if I was watching as a viewer. But then we have new characters that are wonderful as well. I think that that's one thing I'd like to see more of, John. … I have every bit of faith, though, that the people behind the show and the passion that all of us actors have, that if we do go off track, we'll get back on. It'll always work out.

"Amy's entering this whole new world of college, and that experience is a frightening, and Ephram's realizing all these things. They're trying to maintain a friendship, which I think happens a lot in relationships that don't turn out particularly well, you try the friendship thing and that can be tough, but it's realistic."

Chris: "Bright will try to become more self aware and try to become a better person."

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